165 km/h!
166 km/h!!
167 km/h!!!
Earlier, Narumiya Mei had firmly believed that it was impossible for Zhou Hao to maintain such terrifying velocity for long.
Sooner or later, the speed would fall.
Either Zhou Hao would lower it himself—
Or his body would force him to slow down.
No matter which happened, the outcome should have been inevitable.
The velocity would eventually decrease.
And in Narumiya Mei's eyes, a slowed Fastball was the perfect prey.
The moment Zhou Hao's speed dropped, Mei was confident he could blast the ball away without hesitation.
He had absolute confidence in his batting ability.
After all, he wasn't the Fifth Batter of Inashiro Industrial High School Baseball Team because of his appearance.
He earned that position through pure strength.
Just like Zhou Hao being placed as the third batter for Seido High School Baseball Team—
Their batting talent was simply too overwhelming for the coaches to hide lower in the lineup.
Under normal circumstances, a team's Ace pitcher should focus primarily on pitching and controlling the game.
They usually weren't expected to exhaust themselves offensively as well.
That was why pitchers like Furuya Satoru or Sawamura Eijun were typically placed near the bottom of the batting order.
Setting Sawamura aside for the moment, his batting still had clear limitations.
Furuya, however, was different.
Even the notoriously strict Kataoka Tesshin highly valued Furuya's batting ability.
Kataoka believed that simply having Furuya in the lineup improved Seido's overall offensive strength.
No matter how small the improvement was—
Improvement was still improvement.
Especially for a team like Seido, the reigning national powerhouse.
Anyone capable of strengthening such a team was already extraordinary.
And yet, despite Furuya's batting talent, Seido never once considered moving him higher in the lineup.
Why?
Because they wanted him to focus completely on pitching.
Only true monsters like Narumiya Mei and Zhou Hao possessed the ability to balance elite pitching and elite batting at the same time.
That was why Mei trusted his own bat completely.
As soon as Zhou Hao slowed down—
He would attack instantly.
To be honest, Narumiya Mei's reasoning was perfectly sound.
Under normal circumstances, Zhou Hao would probably have switched to a Breaking Ball or a Changeup by now.
After all, the opponent was Inashiro Industrial.
Even with a one-run lead, he still needed to pitch carefully.
But there was one thing Mei didn't know.
Zhou Hao's "Stamina +1" state had less than a minute remaining.
How could Zhou Hao willingly waste this chance to test the limits of his velocity?
So instead of slowing down—
He pushed harder.
Each pitch became fiercer than the last.
Unfortunately, even while boosted by the "Stamina +1" state, Zhou Hao still failed to exceed 168 km/h.
His top speed remained frozen there.
And deep down, Zhou Hao understood something clearly.
For a very long time to come—
168 km/h was likely his limit.
Two outs. Bases empty.
The Sixth Batter for Inashiro Industrial stepped into the batter's box.
Although he was also a regular starter, his mentality was completely different from Harada and Narumiya Mei's.
He wasn't waiting for Zhou Hao's speed to decrease.
On the contrary—
He actually hoped Zhou Hao would continue throwing even faster pitches.
As long as he could force Zhou Hao to waste a little more stamina, he would already consider his mission accomplished.
But just as he was thinking that—
He suddenly saw Zhou Hao casually toss a slow, floating pitch.
A mistake?
The thought instantly flashed through the batter's mind.
For a moment, he wanted to hold back his swing.
After all, he understood very clearly what this pitch might be.
The Eephus pitch.
As the nation's number one pitcher, Zhou Hao had used this trick repeatedly throughout previous games.
And every time—
The effect had been devastating.
Everyone knew why.
It wasn't just because the pitch itself was strange.
It was because Zhou Hao's control and mentality were terrifyingly stable.
That brief hesitation flashed through the Sixth Batter's mind.
But only for an instant.
The next moment, he tightened both hands around the bat.
No matter what—
He couldn't back down.
Even if it was a trap, he still had to swing.
Against Zhou Hao, hesitation was death.
His only thought right now was simple:
Hit the ball.
CRACK!
The white baseball shot high into the sky.
Standing on the mound, Zhou Hao looked up calmly.
Then he casually took two steps forward.
Honestly, the Sixth Batter's hitting power was simply too weak.
Otherwise, Zhou Hao wouldn't have needed to move at all.
Even while thinking this, his actions remained smooth and effortless.
He raised his glove.
POP!
Out!
Three outs. Side retired.
Inside the Inashiro Industrial dugout, several players felt their scalps go numb.
A barrage of pitches above 165 km/h…
Even as opponents, they had been completely overwhelmed by the spectacle.
If they placed themselves in Zhou Hao's position—
If they possessed that kind of velocity—
Would they willingly stop throwing it?
Of course not.
Absolutely not.
For most pitchers, such a moment might only come once in an entire lifetime.
Who could willingly give that up?
Yet Zhou Hao did exactly that.
Against the Sixth Batter, he didn't waste even a single extra pitch.
He immediately used the Eephus pitch to force weak contact.
From the beginning, he had already predicted that the batter would never resist swinging.
If the Sixth Batter had endured just one more pitch, the outcome might have been completely different.
At the very least, he could have forced Zhou Hao to throw several more high-speed pitches.
But unfortunately—
Everything had gone exactly according to Zhou Hao's calculations.
The top of the fifth inning came to an end.
The score remained unchanged.
1–0.
Seido still held the lead.
The fans in the stands accepted the low score surprisingly quickly.
Although runs were scarce, the game itself was unbelievably thrilling.
In fact, many spectators were shocked to realize that the match was already halfway over.
From their perspective, it felt as though the game had only just begun.
"Unbelievable…"
"This is way too satisfying to watch."
"Now it's Seido's turn to attack again, right?"
"I wonder if Inashiro can still hold on?"
"They are the national runners-up, after all."
As discussions spread through the stadium, Seido's Fifth Batter stepped into the batter's box.
Isashiki Jun.
CRACK!
The instant the bat connected, Isashiki's expression changed dramatically.
He had been fooled.
When Narumiya Mei released the pitch, he had deliberately taken something off the ball.
On the surface, the velocity didn't seem particularly slow.
But the pitch lacked its usual explosive movement near the plate.
The moment contact was made, Isashiki immediately realized something was wrong.
The power behind the hit was completely off.
But by then—
It was already too late.
All he could do was watch helplessly as the baseball soared high into the air before descending back toward the infield.
Standing calmly on the mound, Narumiya Mei didn't move at all.
He simply raised his glove.
POP!
Out!
The players and supporters of Seido High School Baseball Team didn't even have time to cheer.
Their voices caught in their throats.
Narumiya Mei had taken the first out far too easily.
The entire sequence unfolded so smoothly that it was almost unbelievable.
For a moment, the Seido players even wondered—
Did he do it intentionally?
"This guy…"
"He's definitely not someone you can underestimate."
Narumiya Mei was using this method to send a clear message to everyone from Seido.
His pitching was still terrifyingly strong.
And Inashiro Industrial High School Baseball Team had not yet reached the end of the road.
They still possessed the right to challenge Seido head-on.
"It's getting more and more intense!"
"My blood is boiling just watching this!"
The spectators in the stands erupted into cheers once again.
At this point, many of them didn't even know which side they were supporting anymore.
They simply felt that the battle unfolding before them deserved applause.
Inside Seido's dugout, however, the atmosphere was much heavier.
From their perspective, they understood better than anyone how suffocating this situation truly was.
Zhou Hao was already an insurmountable mountain standing before Inashiro Industrial.
Every batter who faced him felt overwhelming despair.
But now—
Wasn't Narumiya Mei becoming another mountain as well?
As long as he stood on the mound, the Seido players couldn't think of any reliable way to break through him.
So far, only Zhou Hao had managed to hit a Home Run off him.
And honestly—
Thank goodness for that one run.
Otherwise, if the game continued like this, even the Seido players didn't dare imagine what the final result might become.
In this suffocating atmosphere, Seido's Sixth and Seventh Batters stepped up one after another.
Miyuki Kazuya.
Masuko Tooru.
Facing an all-out Narumiya Mei, neither of them could find any effective solution.
In the end, both were retired consecutively.
Three outs. Change of sides.
The game entered the top of the sixth inning, with Inashiro Industrial coming up to bat.
At this stage of the game, even Inashiro's players could no longer maintain the same confidence they had shown earlier.
Everyone understood exactly how terrifying Zhou Hao was.
Especially the lower part of the lineup—
Most of them had already given up hope of hitting his pitches cleanly.
Their strategy became extremely simple.
Endure the first two pitches.
Then react to the third.
Against batters who had already decided not to swing no matter what, even Zhou Hao couldn't force immediate results.
He could only secure two quick strikes first before deciding how to finish them.
As for whether the final pitch would be a Fastball or a Breaking Ball—
That depended entirely on his mood.
Two strikeouts.
One fly-out.
Zhou Hao cleanly ended the top of the sixth inning.
The Seido supporters in the stands, of course, had no idea about the frustration hidden in Zhou Hao's heart.
All they saw was absolute dominance.
"Nice pitching!"
"Only nine more outs until victory!"
For Seido's supporters, if there was still one lingering regret—
It was the score.
One run.
Just a single run.
Of course, with Zhou Hao on the mound, even a one-run lead felt incredibly secure.
But who would ever complain about scoring more?
At the very least, Seido's fans certainly wouldn't.
The more runs, the better.
That was the simplest truth in baseball.
Bottom of the sixth inning.
Seido's offense stepped onto the field once again.
Shirasu Kenjirou.
Oshima.
Kuramochi Youichi.
As the lower lineup of the reigning national powerhouse, none of them could be underestimated.
Everyone knew that although they batted near the bottom of the order, their offensive ability was still excellent.
Yet against Narumiya Mei—
All three looked strangely powerless.
It was obvious they desperately wanted to hit the ball.
But no matter what they tried, they simply couldn't break through.
Only now did Seido's players and supporters fully realize something terrifying.
Narumiya Mei—
The pitcher who had always been compared directly with Zhou Hao—
Was monstrously strong in his own right.
Perhaps he didn't possess the same overwhelming dominance as Zhou Hao.
But against everyone else?
He clearly stood on an entirely different level.
"Maybe…"
"Miyuki Kazuya murmured inwardly."
"Having Zhou Hao as his rival unknowingly raised the ceiling of his growth."
Sometimes, a great rival pushed someone further than even the best teammate ever could.
And Narumiya Mei's development perfectly proved that point.
Miyuki fell silent in thought.
The other Seido players also gradually came to the same realization.
But after understanding it—
No one continued dwelling on the issue.
The game marched forward relentlessly.
And before anyone noticed—
It had already entered the top of the seventh inning.
The final phase of the battle had begun.
If Inashiro Industrial wanted to turn the game around, this was their last opportunity.
The seventh inning.
Or the eighth.
If they still failed to score here—
Then by the ninth inning, the game would effectively be over.
The players of Inashiro Industrial were among the nation's best.
Naturally, they sensed the approaching climax as well.
The way they looked at Zhou Hao now resembled gamers staring at the final boss standing before them.
"No matter what…"
"We need at least one run."
"Just one."
Inside the Inashiro dugout, Narumiya Mei suddenly spoke.
Earlier, they had lost a single run.
And that one run had become the deadliest wound imaginable.
Mei didn't ask for two runs.
He didn't even speak about taking the lead.
As long as they could tie the score—
That would be enough.
Because Narumiya Mei believed in one thing completely.
If the game entered extra innings—
He could continue holding Zhou Hao down.
And eventually, lead Inashiro Industrial to victory.
To the Kanto Tournament championship.
At this moment, Inashiro's Next Batter stepped into the batter's box.
Carlos Toshiki.
His eyes gleamed sharply beneath the stadium lights.
Like black pearls shining in the middle of a desert.